Bullish on growth of the insurance sector, Reliance [Get Quote] Life Insurance is set to hire 2,500 managers, besides 90 thousand advisers in the next four months. "We are planning to add close to 2,500 employees and 90,000 advisers by the end of March next year," Reliance Life Insurance chief executive officer P Nandagopal told PTI.
With the fresh recruitments, the total number of advisers would cross three lakh while total staff strength would be over 28,000, he said.
During the first eight months of the current fiscal, Nandagopal said the company has recruited over 40,000 advisers and added 8,000 employees in the sales functions. Advisers are not on the payroll of the company. They work on commission basis.
"Despite the growth momentum witnessed by the industry over the past few years, the potential for future expansion remains as strong as ever, thanks to low penetration levels, attractive demographics, robust economic prospects and increasing investor awareness," he said.
The recruitment plan is in line with the growth objective of the company, he said. On the growth in the business, he said, the company has been growing its business at the rate of 126 per cent, more than double the rate of the private sector industry.
To sustain this kind of growth, the company would require huge investment in terms of human as well as monetary resource, he added.
During the current year, the company has invested additional capital of Rs 756 crore (Rs 7.56 billion) to support the expansion plans. Going forward, he said, the company plans to invest another Rs 600-700 crore (Rs 6-7 billion) in the next four months.
Nandagopal said, the additional investment would go in to facilitate growth plans, including upgrading technology, recruitment and opening of branches.
Talking about expanding reach, he said, the company has applied for opening up of additional 400 branches across the country and is awaiting the regulatory clearance. Currently, the insurer has about 1,000 branches spread across the length and breadth of the country.
In the past three years, he said, the company has ramped up distribution network from 78 to 750 branches.
"We expect to more than double this number to reach a target of 1,800 branches by the end of this year. Our focus continues to be on building a large and quality distribution network," he said.
In less than three years of starting operations, it has become one of the top four life insurers in the private sector growing at an over 100 per cent rate annually, he added.
© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
|